The Residents are an experimental music and visual arts group from Louisian… Read Full Bio ↴The Residents are an experimental music and visual arts group from Louisiana, United States, largely shrouded in mystery and myth. The Residents began recording in 1967, although many of these recordings from their early years have still gone unreleased to this day. The earliest material from the group, traded among bootlegs, was recorded around 1969. In 1972, the group adopted the name The Residents and issued their first official release, Santa Dog.

Allmusic had this to say about the Residents: "Over the course of a recording career spanning several decades, the Residents remained a riddle of Sphinx-like proportions; cloaking their lives and music in a haze of willful obscurity, the band's members never identified themselves by name, always appearing in public in disguise -- usually tuxedos, top hats and giant eyeball masks -- and refusing to grant media interviews. Drawing inspiration from the likes of fellow innovators including Harry Partch, Sun Ra, and Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, the Residents channelled the breadth of American music into their idiosyncratic, satiric vision, their mercurial blend of electronics, distortion, avant-jazz, classical symphonies and gratingly nasal vocals reinterpreting everyone from John Philip Sousa to James Brown while simultaneously expanding the boundaries of theatrical performance and multimedia interaction.

It was commonly accepted that the four-member group emigrated to San Francisco, California from Shreveport, Louisiana at some point in the early '70s. According to longtime group spokesman Jay Clem -- one member of the so-called Cryptic Corporation, the band's representative body -- they received their name when Warner Bros. mailed back their anonymous demo tape, addressed simply "for the attention of residents". Finding no takers for their oddball sounds, the Residents founded their own label, Ralph Records, for the purposes of issuing their 1972 debut "Santa Dog", released in a pressing of 300 copies which were mailed out to luminaries from Frank Zappa to President Richard Nixon. Their debut full-length, 1974's "Meet the Residents", reportedly sold fewer than 50 copies before the group was threatened with a lawsuit from Capitol Records over its cover, a twisted, dada-esque parody of the art to "Meet the Beatles".

The follow-up, 1974's neoclassical excursion "Not Available", was recorded with the intention of its music remaining unissued; locked in cold storage upon its completion, only a 1978 contractual obligation resulted in its eventual release. 1976's "The Third Reich 'N Roll" was the next official offering, a collection of pop oldies covers presented in a controversial jacket portraying Adolf Hitler clutching an enormous carrot. After a 1976 concert in Berkeley, California which cloaked the Residents behind an opaque screen, wrapped up like mummies -- the most famous of only three live performances mounted during their first decade of existence -- they issued an abrasive 1977 cover of The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction", which became an underground hit on both sides of the Atlantic at the peak of the punk movement. As the decade drew to a close, the group released a flurry of recordings, further building upon their growing cult following; among them were 1978's "Duck Stab", 1979's "Eskimo" (purportedly a collection of native Arctic chants) and 1980's "Commercial Album", a compilation of 40 one-minute "pop songs" that aired on San Francisco radio only because the Residents played them during the advertising time they bought.

In 1981 the Residents embarked upon their "Mole Trilogy", a prog rock collection of albums -- 1981's "Mark of the Mole", 1982's "The Tunes of Two Cities" and 1985's "The Big Bubble" -- recounting an epic battle between a pair of tribes named the Moles and the Chubs; a lavish, multimedia tour, "The Mole Show", followed. In the interim, the group also mounted another ambitious project, the "American Composer" series, although only two of the projected titles -- 1984's "George & James" (a reinterpretation of songs by George Gershwin and James Brown) and 1986's "Stars & Hank Forever" (celebrating John Philip Sousa and Hank Williams) -- ever appeared. Instead, in the wake of financial and corporate difficulties which resulted in the creation of a New Ralph label, the Residents issued the one-off "God in Three Persons" (a talking blues outing), and 1989's "The King and Eye" (a reinterpretation of Elvis Presley standards).

After losing control of the Ralph label as well as their back catalog, the Residents regained the rights to their music in 1990 and began reissuing long-out-of-print material as well as the new "Freak Show", a meditation on circus sideshows and carnival dementia. Four years later, Freak Show was reissued as a CD-ROM, marking the group's first leap into the new digital interactive technology; "Have a Bad Day" followed in 1996, and included the soundtrack to the CD-ROM game "Bad Day on the Midway." In 1997, the band celebrated their silver anniversary with the release of the career-spanning overview "Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses". "Wormwood: Curious Stories From the Bible" followed the next year, with "Roadworms" (songs from Wormwood as performed in the stage show) being issued in mid-2000. They followed that up with the awesome "Icky Flix" DVD, an incredibly detailed collection of their videos that featured both old and new soundtracks, 5.1 Digital Stereo Surround sound, countless hidden videos and in-depth histories of each individual track. That was followed by another one of their rare tours, which saw them incorporate the DVD into their live act and bring out guest singer Molly Harvey for some truly creative duets. The "Petting Zoo" retrospective followed in the spring of 2002, acting as a budget sampler for new fans and giving old fans something to tide them over while several high concept projects neared completion. The first was "Demons Dance Alone", a complicated pop album that hearkened back to the catchier material from "Duck Stab" and the "Commercial Album". That was followed in 2002 by a live retrospective called "Kettles Of Fish On The Outskirts Of Town" that contained 3 cd's and a DVD, and a further look at their past via remasters and remixes put out by EuroRalph (including a remix of their previously unreleased and notorious "Warner Brothers Demo"). A DVD of the Demons Dance Alone tour came out in 2004 and another new project, "Animal Lover" was released in 2005."

Summer of 2006 brought the internet download project, The River of Crime: Episodes 1-5. River of Crime was their first project with Warner Music Group's Cordless label. Following the success of "River of Crime", The Residents launched their weekly Timmy video project on YouTube. In 2007 they did the music for the documentary "Strange Culture" and also released a double instrumental album, "Night of the Hunters". On the Fourth of July, 2007, the planned October release of their latest project with Mute Records, The Voice of Midnight (a music theater adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffmann's short story Der Sandmann), was announced on their website.

On the 21st of May 2008 they announced on their website that their first North America tour since "Demons Dance Alone" for a project entitled "The Bunny Boy" is set to begin on October 9th in New York — later an earlier date was added for Santa Cruz. Soon, it was announced that the tour will also include Europe, starting November 13th. On June 3rd, the Residents.com website boasted the planned release of "The Bunny Boy" which was released on September 1st. The website had posted information in which Foxboro claimed this would be a Farewell Tour; it was later revealed that this was nothing more than a mistake by Foxboro.

In October 2017, Hardy Fox identified himself as both the anonymous primary composer and producer for The Residents as well as the pseudonymous Charles Bobuck.
Hardy Fox died on October 30, 2018.

Secret Room
The Residents Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

He has got a secret room that protects him like a tomb
I have got a secret room, no one even knows it’s there
I have got a secret room, it’s full of tenderness and care
I have got a secret room, no one knows exactly where
I have got a secret room, I need it like a bird needs air

There’s a big eyeball that sings, there’s a duck with lifeless wings
And a bottle with a thing that no one knows

There’s my favorite catfish and a boy with a blemish
And the butcher shop I wish that I could own
There’s a girlfriend that I had who was good when she was sad
There’s a silver helmet and a pig’s jawbone
There’s a deer foot on a shelf, and a picture of myself
Looking like a lonely elf that lost his home

He has got a secret room that protects him like a tomb

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to The Residents' song Secret Room describe the existence of a hidden space that offers the singer solace and sanctuary from the outside world. The singer's secret room is not merely a physical location but also represents a state of mind that allows him to escape the harsh realities of life. The room is described as a place full of tenderness and care, a place where the singer can be himself without fear of judgement or reprisal. The secret room is a place of comfort, and the lyrics suggest that the singer needs it just as much as a bird needs air.

The song's lyrics also describe some of the strange contents of the secret room, including a big eyeball that sings, a duck with lifeless wings, a bottle with a mysterious object inside, and a collection of oddities such as a deer foot and a pig's jawbone. These items suggest a surreal and dreamlike quality to the secret room, as if the singer is engaging in a form of escapism from reality. The room also contains personal items, such as a picture of the singer and a former girlfriend, suggesting that the secret space is also a reflection of the singer's inner life.

Overall, Secret Room is a song that explores the concept of hidden spaces and the human desire for privacy and seclusion. It suggests that such spaces can provide a sense of safety and comfort, even as they offer an escape from reality into a dreamlike realm of the imagination.

Line by Line Meaning

He has got a secret room that protects him like a tomb
He has a private space that keeps him safe and secure, like being buried in a tomb.

I have got a secret room, no one even knows it’s there
I have a hidden space that nobody is aware of and can’t find it.

I have got a secret room, it’s full of tenderness and care
There is a private place where I keep my emotions, it's loving, warm, and supportive.

I have got a secret room, no one knows exactly where
I possess a mysterious, concealed location that no one is aware of its exact whereabouts.

I have got a secret room, I need it like a bird needs air
I have an essential private space that I need to survive, it's just like how a bird requires air to breathe.

There’s a big eyeball that sings, there’s a duck with lifeless wings
In my secret room, there is a big eyeball that can sing, and a duck whose wings are not moving.

And a bottle with a thing that no one knows
There's a mysterious object hidden in a bottle that nobody knows what it is.

There’s my favorite catfish and a boy with a blemish
Among my possessions in my private place, I have my beloved catfish and a boy with an imperfection.

And the butcher shop I wish that I could own
There is a butcher shop that I desire to own located in my secret room.

There’s a girlfriend that I had who was good when she was sad
Among my belongings, there's a former girlfriend who was better when she was unhappy.

There’s a silver helmet and a pig’s jawbone
I own a silver helmet and the jawbone of a pig.

There’s a deer foot on a shelf, and a picture of myself
There is a deer's foot placed on a shelf, and a picture of my own image.

Looking like a lonely elf that lost his home
In the picture, I appear like a desolate elf that has lost its residence.

Contributed by Eva T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

TRACKS